You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@nrtoday.com.

There can never be too many angels in the world, according to Myrtle Creek resident Anita Russell.

That belief is partly why the 61-year-old decided to write a book teaching others her craft.

Known locally as the “The Angel Lady,” Russell has been creating angel pins from unwanted or unused jewelry for almost 20 years.

The angels always have six parts — a halo, a face, a body, wings, adornment and backing — but no two are exactly alike.

Russell is a regular at yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets and even bait shops and hardware stores where she finds the pieces for her angels. She's used many a fishing lure for a body part or copper wiring for wings. Her vision of an angel doesn't quite match the stereotypical image of an ashen spirit floating beneath a crown of sunshine-colored hair and a golden halo.

Some of Russell's angels don cowboy hats, extravagant bonnets with pink bows and jeweled bodices.

“You're only limited by your own imagination,” she said.

Many of the angel pieces are donated to Russell when women clean out their jewelry boxes and discard of old stones, earrings or broaches.

“All I do is clean 'em, finish 'em and put 'em back together as angels,” Russell said, and then added excitedly, “it's such a joy to do it.”

She also does custom work. Sometimes a mother will bring in a vintage piece of her grandmother's jewelry and request that Russell make it into a pin.

Her husband, Don Russell, said during a recent interview that they converted the third bedroom into a studio once Anita's hobby began to blossom.

“She's got bins and bins of pieces and parts,” Don said.

He said more people in town know her as “The Angel Lady” than do her actual name and they don't hesitate to contribute to Anita's cause.

“If they lose one earring, they bring her the other,” he said.

For most of her adult life, Anita Russell was a technical person working in a technical field. As a contract manager for AT&T Inc., her life was consumed by budgets and numbers or in her free time, the outdoors. She was never one to sit down and sew a sweater.

“I was never crafty,” she said. “Give me football, baseball ... I love to fish, love to hunt. (Crafts) were never a part of that.”

In the early '90s, her father suffered a stroke and was in the hospital recovering. Russell, who had just retired, said one day she randomly decided to make a angel pin from a kit. Her father loved it and so did the nurses and other patients at the hospital.

She decided to create more of the angels since her father had loved the first one so much.

"I just did it for my dad and it just kind of ballooned,” Russell said. “The good Lord blessed me, that's all I can say.”

Years later, Russell said she has made thousands of pins. She sells them at a few businesses in South County, summer festivals and annual craft shows at the fairgrounds. She also sells her angels through her Web site and is working on 17 pins for a Long Island, N. Y., firefighters club.

The Russells lived in many different locations before they settled on Myrtle Creek in 2002. They moved from California to Douglas County. Prior to the move, Anita Russell had taught classes on making angel pins. She decided to continue with her classes here, teaching youth church groups so that they can make the pins and sell them at Christmastime as a fundraiser. She also offers private courses for adults.

The idea for a book came to Russell about four years ago while she was selling her angels at the Myrtle Creek Summer Festival. Her technical skills came in handy once again as she detailed the step-by-step directions, the six pieces needed for each angel and the glue she uses for her pins.

She wanted to name the book “Six Easy Pieces,” but when the Christian publishing company, Tate Publishing, sent her an acceptance letter and suggested she think of a more intriguing title for the book, Russell settled on “Hand to Heart: An Easy Guide to Making Angel Pins.”

Her husband joked that she's selling her business secret, but Russell — who considers making the pins a hobby — just shrugged her shoulders.

“Are there ever too many angels in the world?” she said.